


The Great Divide (new chapter 32)

by Antigravity_Carnivore



Series: The Great Divide [32]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Dark, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Good and Evil, Inspired by Music, M/M, Music, Musicians, Prox - Freeform, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 18:41:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15443382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigravity_Carnivore/pseuds/Antigravity_Carnivore
Summary: The Shallow Bay becomes a battlefield, and the lines are drawn between friends.With the fate of Prox resting on the lives of two children, will it all come to a screeching halt?





	The Great Divide (new chapter 32)

**Author's Note:**

> Some material in this chapter may be hard for some to read. Please use caution and discretion when choosing whether or not to proceed.

Lizzie looked at Scott with wide eyes, “What do you mean there’s something wrong with Tristan?” She felt a pit opening up deep inside her stomach, and it was slowly being filled with intense regret for letting her only child leave her arms. She immediately wanted to run to him and scoop his little body up in her arms and carry him off, away from this place, but she knew it wasn’t possible. There wasn’t a ‘safe place’ on Prox anymore.

Sighing, Scott shook his head. “We don’t know yet. After we left the control room, I took him back to your room and put him into his cradle. I tucked him in with his blankets and blue teddy bear and he seemed to be okay for a short while. As time passed, and you didn’t return, he started to get really fussy and upset. I tried my best to comfort him, but when I picked him up I noticed that his skin felt like it was on fire. His eyes were glazed over and hazy and I knew that there was something seriously wrong with him. Then he started crying, I tried everything I could to make him feel better but nothing was working. With each passing minute he just screamed louder and louder, tears streaming down his cheeks and his entire little body flailing about as if he was fighting some invisible demon. I started to get worried that this was more than a simple fever, so I took him to the infirmary as fast as I could. By the time we got there, the convulsions and seizures started. The medical team went to work on him, to try to stabilize him and I went in search of you.” Staring at her accusingly, Scott tried his best to hide his disappointment. “What were you doing out there for so long anyway? You said that you’d only be a few minutes; you were over an hour, Lizzie. Your son needed you, and you were out there wandering about like some sort of mad woman. How could you leave him alone like that?”

The sick feeling getting worse, Lizzie tried her best to ignore it and process what Scott was telling her. Something didn’t feel right. She had only gone to the garden for a few moments to collect herself and mourn for Thomas in private when she was attacked by Selene, or what looked like Selene. The encounter between the two of them only lasted for what Lizzie assumed was a few minutes, but apparently it was much longer. She didn’t know what happened to Thomas’s mother, but she knew that she would never have let such a terrible thing happen to her; someone was responsible for it. How could she tell Scott about what she had seen out there in the greenhouse when she didn't understand it herself? There was no proof that the encounter even happened. Was it all in her mind? Feeling a tremendous pain forming in the front of her head, Lizzie looked to Scott, her eyes pleading for some sympathy. “I didn’t leave him alone; I left him with you, because I knew that you would be the best person to take care of him. You are the only one I trust here now. It’s not my fault he suddenly got sick. How was I supposed to know that it was going to happen? I don’t know how to be a mother! No one showed me or told me what to expect! I don’t know how to do this! I.... I can't do it...alone. Maybe it’s a good thing that Benjamin took baby Ben away from me, because apparently I am an unfit mother after all. I lost one child and now the other one is in danger, it’s obvious that I am failing here. I just don’t know what to do. It’s too much for me.” Turning her back, Lizzie walked over to the wall and put her hands on it, steadying herself. The pain between her eyes was getting worse, and now she was starting to see spots in front of her eyes as a wave of dizziness came crashing down over her. “I lost Thomas, I lost baby Ben, and now I am going to lose Tristan as well. I should just give up and stop fighting.” She whispered, closing her eyes.

Scott stood in the center of the hall, dumbstruck by Lizzie’s sudden outburst, but feeling guilty for being so short with her. The stress level around the Shallow Bay was building, and even though he tried to remain calm and keep a level head through it all, it was becoming too much, even for him. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean for that to sound like I was accusing you of being a bad mother, Lizzie. It just came out all wrong. I understand that you’re under a lot of pressure and strain right now, and it was wrong of me to say such things to you. I didn’t mean to be so blunt. I feel terrible. Just forget about everything I said and let’s go see your son okay? I promise, no one is going to leave you alone.”

Lizzie tried to speak, but the words didn’t come out. Her mouth felt like it was suddenly filled with cotton, her throat dry and parched as beads of sweat began to form on her upper lip. Leaning in further against the wall, she lowered her head and tried to find a center of balance, her knees threatening to give way beneath her. There was an intense tingling all over her skin now, that made her feel like there were a thousand insects crawling all over her, each one sending a spark of electricity through her that painfully shocked her body, leaving it numb and cold. She was aware of Scott staring at her, but she did her best to try to ignore the strange feeling that was slowly taking over her and act natural. All she wanted to do was see her son. “Don’t say that you are sorry. You said exactly what you were thinking, honest and unfiltered. I know my place here, I know what is expected of me… but it’s so hard right now. There’s so much going on inside my head, I find it hard to concentrate. All the voices, crying out at once, begging me for help... I want to help them, but how can I if I can’t even help myself or my son? I am not sure if I have the strength to go on…” Slowly, she turned around and opened her eyes, to see Scott continuing to stare at her, like she was some sort of alien.

Taking a step over to her, Scott extended his arm. He could clearly see that she was in some sort of distress now and instantly felt badly for putting her in this situation. “Hey, Lizzie… are you alright, you are pale as a ghost and look like you’re going to fall over. Here, let me help you.”

Leaning her head against the back wall, Lizzie closed her eyes again, unable to keep them open, the bright overhead fluorescent lighting in the hall too much for her. The room was spinning and her entire body was wobbling back and forth. She saw that Scott had reached out for her, but instead of taking hold of her hand, she slowly sunk down onto the floor, avoiding him. The pain inside of her head made her feel like her skull was cracking open, and the voices that were whispering to her started to grow louder by the moment. Too many, all at once, flooding in and begging her for help. “Something’s wrong Scott, terribly wrong. My body, it doesn’t feel like it’s mine. Everything hurts.” Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at him. She saw the expression on his face change from concern to fright. “What’s wrong with me?” she asked. “Why are they whispering to me?”

Scott brought his hand up to his mouth and gasped. Lizzie’s normally bright blue eyes were hazed over and pale now, losing color by the moment. He had never seen anything like it at all and it scared the hell out of him. Bending down next to her, he reached out and took hold of her hand. He could feel how cold her skin was, but the temperature of it didn’t concern him, as much has the feeling of it did. Once young and soft, her flesh was now hardening at a alarming rate, turning as stiff as stone as he held into it. Reaching forward, he pushed some of the sweat soaked hair away from her face. “Lizzie, listen to me. There are no voices in your head, alright? You’ve just got a fever, just like Tristan okay? Maybe it’s a bug or something going around. Whatever it is, you’re going to pull through it, but I need to get you to the infirmary. We can get you help there and you can see Tristan. Can you walk?”

Gasping for breath, Lizzie clutched at her chest, which suddenly felt very tight and shook her head. She struggled to understand what Scott was saying to her, his words were faint and far off, being drowned out by the voices inside her head that wouldn’t stay quiet now. They were awake and sentient, begging her to come free them. She didn’t know who they were, but she could feel the agony, the torment that they were in. Each cry, plea, or scream for freedom scratched at the inside of her head, causing her tremendous pain. “I have to go.” She whispered to him.

“Yes, Lizzie. We’re going to go to the infirmary, but you have to stand up and walk. Come on, let’s try it.” Sliding his arms around her body, Scott tried to lift her up off the floor, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to lift her, it was if her small body was now three times its original weight. “Okay, I have no idea what’s going on here.” Lizzie’s eyes closed and her head dropped forward, her long black hair concealing her face. “Hey hey hey… Lizzie. Stay with me sweetie. You’re going to be alright. I am going to get you help.” Tightening his arms around her again, Scott bent his legs and shifted his weight, trying his best to lift her once again, but with no success. Sighing to himself, he tried it a third time, but this time he was met with resistance. As he lifted, Lizzie’s arms shot out on either side of her body and with a quick flick of her wrists, slammed into the concrete wall behind her, anchoring her in place. Startled, Scott let her go and saw that her hands had contorted into long, monstrous black claws, which penetrated the thick wall with such force that it sent a spider web crack all the way up to the ceiling.

“I am not going anywhere with you.” Lizzie snarled behind the long dark curtain of her hair. Contorting her body, she brought up one booted foot and placed it against Scott’s chest and thrust it forward with immense force that his body went flying across the hall, coming to a stop when his back hit the concrete on the opposite side with a loud thud.

After the impact, Scott was left dazed and gasping for breath. Cringing, he fought to push himself into a sitting position and looked over at Lizzie in confusion. “What the hell is going on, I don’t understand!”

Lizzie yanked her claws out of the wall, sending a spray of small loose pebbles flying out of the hole she had created and over in Scott’s direction. He put his hand in front of his face to shield himself from their assault. “FEC command mode activated. Download of Carnivore programming 5.0 successful. Awaiting further instructions.”

“Holy shit! It can’t be. The FEC was destroyed. How is this possible?” Scott held onto the wall for support and rose to his feet. His back was sore and painful, but not terrible. Judging from the amount of force that she had used to push him away, Scott could tell that Lizzie was no longer human anymore. Something, or someone had activated the dormant Carnivore program that once been implanted into her nervous system and now she was slowly being converted back into one of the merciless killing machines. Holding his hands up, he approached her with great caution. “Okay, Lizzie. Stay calm, we can deal with this. I just need you to come with me; I am not going to hurt you. I want to go for a walk.” Looking into her eyes, Scott could still see traces of the original blue color there, which gave him hope that not all was lost. He knew that she was a danger, and the first thing he had to do was confine and isolate her until he could figure out where the signal activating the Carnivore programming was coming from. If he could disable the signal, then she would return to her former self. He glanced down the hall and saw a few men going about their duties, oblivious to the danger that was so near to them, but further down past them, only a few more feet away was an unused room with an electronic locking system attached to the door. If he could just get her in there, without alarming or injuring anyone else, then that would buy him the time that he needed to find and disable the signal. Reaching out, he took hold of her cold hand again. The lack of warmth and feeling of inhuman flesh repulsed him, and yet he held on still. “Nice and easy, follow me, one step at a time.”

In a haze of lucidity, Lizzie allowed Scott to lead her down the hall, hoping that there wouldn’t be any distractions along the way that might snap her back to full attention. Step by step they made their way down the hall together, approaching the door to the first room with great caution. Letting go of her hand for a moment, Scott punched in the key code for the door and it slid open. Taking a deep breath, he then moved behind the still dazed Lizzie and gave her a gentle nudge toward the door. She started to move forward when suddenly the base doctor came running down the hall, his long white lab coat trailing out behind him. “Ah Scott, you found her, excellent. You need to both come with me right away…it’s the baby…. it’s very important that you….” He stopped, getting a full look at Lizzie’s appearance and twisted claw like hands. His eyes shifted from her to Scott and he retreated back a few paces. “Dear God, she’s turning into a Carnivore! How did this happen? We have to stop this right away, before she hurts anyone. I’ll get security right away.” He turned to leave when Scott grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“No. Stop. There’s no need to raise the alarm about this. She’s not fully converted yet. We can save her, but if you get men in here with weapons, there’s no telling how she might retaliate. After the Benjamin incident, do you want to be the one responsible if she loses it and attacks people? Even more men will die if we set her off. We have to be very cautious here and deal with this slowly.” Scott shot him a warning glance. “So calm the fuck down and help me get her into this room. After she’s been detained then we can figure this out together.”

The doctor frowned and pointed his finger at Lizzie. “Do you know how powerful these things are? The FEC made an entire army out of the people of Prox converting them to Carnivores. They have a shared conscience which is accessed from a central server. That means that someone has flipped the switch and activated her, and now she’s sending and receiving data from it. The longer that she’s here, the greater risk is that whoever did this will find our location, and if that happens, then all these families here will be in danger. Containing it isn’t going to be enough. We need to deactivate it as soon as possible.”

“IT? One minute ago you were calling her by her name and now you’ve already reduced her to a IT? I understand what you are saying, but that’s Lizzie in there, not some random soul that happened to wander in. She’s Thomas’s wife for Christ sake, and the mother of two children. You can’t honestly tell me that you’re willing to just pull a trigger and kill her because she might be a threat. We destroyed and obliterated the FEC, there is no way that they are doing this. It must be some sort of glitch in the left over programming from when Burnley did this to her. She overcame it before and I am damn sure that she can do it again. We have to give her a chance.” Scott shot back. He was completely put off and astounded by the doctors callousness toward Lizzie. Ever since they had returned from the FEC base, Lizzie had worked tirelessly with the doctor as his assistant, helping him out with patients until her pregnancy forced her to be confined to her bed. She loved the doctor and thought highly of him, because he reminded her of her one time mentor Dr. Wise.

The doctor shifted nervously and came to stand in front of Scott. “The last time I checked, you weren’t in charge here, so I don’t have to follow your orders. Do you honestly think that if Thomas were here, he’d want to see Lizzie suffer like this? She’s not human anymore, Scott. Look at her, every second that we stand here, she’s downloading information from some unknown source and becoming less human with each kilobyte processed. We don’t know who is doing this, or what their goal is, but if they are willing to do this to an innocent girl, then I am pretty sure that we are all fucked.” He took a deep breath and stepped away, backing off and rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t want to hurt Lizzie either, but we have to take all things into consideration here. We lost Benjamin along with one of her children and a bunch of men when he betrayed us. What if somehow this is related and she’s being activated and instructed to bring him the other child? Didn’t you swear to protect Tristan, to watch over him and take care of him, no matter what the cost?”

Lizzie’s claw twitched slightly.

Scott felt like he had suddenly been punched in the face. It was true. He did swear to Lizzie that he wouldn’t let anything happen to Tristan, but he never thought that his own words were going to be used against him. Lizzie wasn’t a threat, she couldn’t be. She loved both of her children and was being driven to the point of extreme stress, which is what caused this to happen. It was the only explanation. Just like what happened to Benjamin when he succumbed to the Shepherd of the Damned after driven to the point of mental and physical exhaustion. But…Lizzie was a mother. She’d never let anything happen to her child, and she would never bring about harm to them by her own hand. Stepping forward and moving past the irritated doctor, Scott took Lizzie’s arm and started to lead her into the room. “No one is going to hurt you Lizzie, I swear.”

Only moving a few inches, Lizzie suddenly stopped and looked towards Scott. Her pale eyes were flooded with tears. “I have to go. They are calling me.”

The doctor stepped forward. “Who, Lizzie. Who is calling you?”

“The sleeping ones. They are all trapped in Eden. She collected them and had them brought there, waiting to become an army. For a year they slept, waiting for her command to be released, confined to a dark place where there is no light, no dreams, only darkness and the smell of chemicals. Only now, she’s gone, disconnected from the server and their consciousness is screaming to be released. She lives, but they do not. They want revenge.” Lizzie’s lips turned upward into a devious smile. “I want revenge.”

Scott noticed the doctor backing away now, putting distance between himself and Lizzie. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw him raise his radio and speak quietly into it. He was calling for a security squad. Scott knew that he had to do something, and fast. “Lizzie, all those voices that you’re hearing, they aren’t real. The FEC and everyone involved has been destroyed, eradicated from Prox over a year ago. You beat this Carnivore thing once before, remember? It’s all in your head. You have to find a way to fight through it. There are men coming here now to hurt you, and I can’t stop them.. You have to shut this all out and come back to us, we need you here. I need you, Tristan needs you. He’s sick, remember? You have to go to him, hold him in your arms and sing lullabies to him until he feels better. Be a mother. Please, I am begging you don’t let this happen.”

Lizzie brought her clawed hand up and clenched it into a fist. Her eyes had lost almost all color now, and she took on a predatory look as she stared down Scott. “I will go to Eden and wake them. All the beautiful souls… children of Prox, and together we will punish the mother for the crimes she has committed. When the light has left her eyes, and the breath crushed from her lungs, then the Shepherd will be made to bow to me and ask forgiveness for taking my child.”

Turning on her heel, Lizzie moved away from Scott and started heading down the corridor. As she nearly made it to the end, a squad of heavily armed security guards rounded the corner and stood in her way. They drew their weapons and stood ready, unsure what to do. The doctor shouted down the hall “She’s been activated as a Carnivore. We’ve all been fooled into thinking that she was harmless. You are all in danger, your wives, you children, everyone. We have no choice but to take her out. This is no longer the wife of Thomas Bell; it’s one of the FEC’s mindless creations. Remember what they did to our families, and our planet. If you all let her walk out that door, it’s going to start all over again. Do you want to lose everything that we worked so hard to attain? Is one life worth more than many?”

The soldiers looked to one another in confusion. They all knew and loved Lizzie and were certainly unsure about pulling the trigger. Seeing their hesitation, Scott took advantage of the situation and jumped in front of her with his arms outstretched. “We’ve lost enough men here. If you attack her, she’s going to retaliate and you’re all going to die. She doesn’t want to hurt any of you, but if you threaten her, then she is going to defend herself. All she wants to do is leave. So step out of her way, let her leave the base and you can all go home to your families tonight. I will take full responsibility for what happens after that…but I want you to know that if you do raise your weapons and fire on her, then you’re all going to be cold blooded murders because you will have to shoot me down first.”

“Come on! Can’t you see what is going on here? Without Thomas here to keep her in check, she’s lost it and is becoming what Burnley wanted her to be, a psychopathic killing machine.” The doctor shouted. The men looked from one another in confusion. Slowly, they started to put their weapons down. Scott breathed a sigh of relief and Lizzie started to walk past them toward the exit. The men looked at her with extreme sadness on their faces, and more than a few had to turn away. Lizzie was the last hope that they had for the Shallow Bay to remain strong, and with her leaving, they did not have a leader. Pulling open the door, she stepped outside into the darkness and storm that continued to rage on over Prox and disappeared into the night, heading towards Eden.

As the door closed, a strange and awkward silence fell over the hall. No one knew what to say or do. The solace and serenity of living without the looming presence of the FEC which they had for over one year now was gone. The shadow of doubt had been placed in their minds, and each of the men now feared the worst for their home. The doctor came over to Scott and patted him on the back. “Looks like you’re in charge now, Scott. I hope that you’re ready for this.”

Rhiannon slowly made her way back down the hall, her fingers reaching out and sliding along the smooth surface as she walked a leisurely pace to her destination. She swished her pale blond hair over her shoulder and swayed forward, each step bringing her closer and closer to something that she wanted so badly, her son. More than ever now, she could feel the presence of his soul near, about to be freed from the mortal prison that it had been kept in for so long. They would be reunited again; mother and son, and nothing would ever separate them. The only obstacle she could foresee was that of Benjamin, standing in her way. She was confident enough that with a touch of her hand, the taste of her lips and a certain look from her eyes, she could make him see things her way. He would want to be with them, and take his place as a husband and father again. No one else mattered, not on Earth, not on Prox either. The blizzard outside had ceased, and now thick, humid warm air was rolling in, obscuring everything outside with a thick blanket of fog. There was an eerie silence that descended upon the empty halls, making each of the steps that she took echo loudly in the enclosed space.

Upon reaching the observation room, Rhiannon stood outside for a moment to collect herself. Looking down at her hands, she remembered the feeling of Shaun’s blood rushing over them and spilling out onto the floor. She really didn’t want to hurt him, he was one of Benjamin’s closest friends, but she knew that he was going to be a threat to her son and there was no way that she could have let him leave that room with the knowledge he had. It was a risk that wasn’t worth taking. A plan formed in her mind; a wonderfully simple plan that would make everything right. All she had to do was make Ben believe her. With a lie ready on her lips, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The first thing she noticed when she entered the room was how cold it was. Since the storm ended, the temperature had risen dramatically, and since there was no one left to regulate the environmental controls, it had started to get uncomfortably warm. Except for this room. This room made her feel like she was standing outside on a cool autumn night, when the first hints of winter started to whisper on the winds long after the sun had set. She zipped up the front of her jacket, taking special care to be sure that her concealed knife was safely tucked away in a side pocket in case she had to use it. The lights were turned down low, throwing huge shadows onto the walls that surrounded the only item in the room, a child’s cradle. Slowly, as she moved forward, she started to feel as through something wasn’t quite right. Everything was too still and quiet. Looking down into the layers of soft blankets, her eyes searched around for the child that should have been waiting here for her, the innocent lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Reaching out, she gripped hold of the blankets, one at a time and pulled them out of the cradle, yanking them out with such force that it shook the small frame. With nothing left but a white mattress to look at, she scowled and cursed underneath her breath, clutching the edge of the cradle so hard that her knuckles turned white.

“Looking for someone?” Benjamin said in a low voice, stepping out of the shadows with the baby held tightly in his strong arms.

Rhiannon’s head shot up and she put a hand over her heart. “Oh god, yes. I was so worried about him. Thank goodness that you’re here. I was afraid that I wasn’t going to make it back in time and the little one would be in danger.” She took a deep breath, letting go of the edge of the cradle and stepped back, noticing that Benjamin remained still now, staying just at the perimeter of the light. “I should have known that you would be here, watching over him, protecting him.” She smiled.

In Benjamin’s arms, the little baby did not fuss or stir at all, but remained incredibly motionless, watching everything intently with his amber colored eyes. “Benjamin. The child’s name is Benjamin.” Ben said flatly, staring down his wife.

Feeling uncomfortable, Rhiannon slipped her hand into her pocket and tried to put on a brave smile. She had to get this right; she couldn’t falter or fail here. Everything was riding on making her husband trust her again. “Of course it is, just like the name of our son. It’s a good name, for a strong boy.” Cautiously, she started to make her way over to the two of them, slowly and with great care, not wanting to arouse any suspicion. “It’s hard to believe that you are holding your very own grandson there in your arms. It is sort of surreal; actually, I never thought that we’d be grandparents. Makes me feel...”

“Where is Shaun?” Benjamin asked, abruptly cutting her off.

Rhiannon stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath. She turned ghastly white and the corners of her eyes started to fill up with tears. “I am so sorry…I should have never left your side. It’s all my fault.” A look of panic spread across her face. She wrung her hands together and looked away from her husband. “There was this room, on the other side of the base that was unlocked…we went in to find some clothes, and I went into the bathroom to get changed… then I overhead loud voices.” Keeping her eyes locked on the floor, Rhiannon let her voice drop. “I stepped outside to see Dustin Bates standing in the room. I had no idea how he even got in, but there he was standing right in front of us. There was a look of sheer hatred and rage in his eyes that it startled me, and I stepped back. I was instantly afraid of him. Of course, being as brave and noble as he always is, Shaun got between us, seeing that I was uncomfortable, just in case something would happen. There were words between the two of them, and before I knew it, Dustin sprang on him. He attacked Shaun for no apparent reason, I tried to get back between them, I really did, but Shaun pushed me out of the way and told me to run. I went to the door as they were struggling and looked behind me just in time to see Dustin take a knife and plunge it into him. He did it... Dustin attacked Shaun!” Bringing her hands up to her face, Rhiannon let the tears spill down over her cheeks, as each false word fell from her lips. “There was so much blood, Ben… it was everywhere. I started to feel light headed and weak. I feared that I would pass out, so I hurried out into the hall, but Dustin followed me. I knew that I was next. He would kill me too, but for what reason I don’t know. He was always the possessive, jealous, greedy type, so I thought that maybe had something to do with it…I just don’t know. He didn’t say anything, he just stared at me with those accusing eyes.” Shaking her head, she crudely wiped away her tears and came to stand in front of her husband now, visibly shaking as she continued her story. “Dustin followed me out into the hall, and grabbed onto my wrist, yanking me back in the room, he was seconds away from killing me, when Shaun managed to reach him and pull him down. As they fell back inside together, I ran as fast as I could, I was running for my life now. The last thing I heard was Shaun screaming. Dustin had finally finished him off and was coming for me. I ran blindly, and so quickly that I got lost. I had to get back to you, and baby Ben, because you could protect us both.” Reaching up, she placed a hand alongside of Ben’s face and ran her thumb across his cheek. “There was a reason why you brought this child here, and this is it. You are his protector, just like you are mine. This power was given to you so that you can defeat all those who threaten our family. I have nothing to worry about now, because we’re finally together. Safe.” Rhiannon held her breath, and looked into Ben’s eyes, desperately searching for a sign there that he would believe her.

Moments passed in silence. Bending down slightly, Benjamin lightly kissed the top of his wife’s head, and she shuddered. There was a terrible feeling being near him just screamed evil, but it was something that she just had to fight through in order to get what she wanted. She wouldn’t let fear take her down, not when she was so close to getting Burnley back now. Pulling her hand away from Ben’s face, she laid it across the child’s body held tightly in his arms. Immediately he began to fuss, squirming and moving away from her, trying to get closer to Ben’s chest, his tiny arms grasping at Ben’s shirt. Sliding his free arm around Rhiannon’s waist, he drew her near, and she stopped shaking. Her eyes went to the child, and it was at that moment, she knew that he believed her. Benjamin was on her side. She had him. “Where is Dustin now?” he whispered to her.

Keeping her eyes focused on the child in his arms, Rhiannon answered Ben in a very small voice, tainted with false innocence. “I.. I.. Don’t know. There was such madness in his eyes; I couldn’t even begin to guess where he was going or what he was going to do next. He was a madman, there’s no telling what he could be up to. Ben, we need to leave here. I don’t think it’s safe. Please let’s go; let’s get this child back to his mother. Lizzie must be out of her mind by now; insane with worry about what has happened to him. I know that I would be too. We can figure everything else out later, okay?”

Letting go of Rhiannon, Benjamin stepped away from his wife and pulled the blanket a little tighter around the child in his arms. “No. We’re not leaving here. This isn’t finished yet.” His eyes were emotionless and uncaring, amber colored mirrors showing no soul as he glanced over at her.

“Ben, love, listen to me. Do you know why you took that child away from Lizzie? Do you know why you came here? You are being forced into doing things. Think about it. It doesn’t make any sense. Something is happening to you, and you’re losing control. That power that you possess, it drew you here and is still keeping you here. I don’t like it, it’s consuming you. I just got you back and I don’t want to lose you again. We have to get out of here before we’re trapped here forever. Please!” Rhiannon pleaded.

Benjamin looked down to the child in his arms. Seeing the peaceful, cherub like face smiling back up at him made something in his heart hurt. All the rage and anger that he had felt from killing Aaron had long since passed, being replaced by unnerving hunger that was slowly eating away at his insides as well as his patience. It unsettled him and put him on edge. Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud boom and then glass shattering somewhere off down the hall.

Rhiannon looked at Benjamin with wide eyes. “What was that?”

Taking a step away from her, Benjamin looked in the direction of the north wing. “Someone discharged a very powerful weapon. It came from the medical wing, near the infirmary.”

Immediately, Rhiannon jumped to Ben’s side and grabbed hold of his arm. “See? I told you, it’s dangerous here. We need to go. Please Ben, I am begging you, let’s get out of here.”

Turning around to her, Benjamin shook his head. “No. I am going to find out what that was.”

Rhiannon started to panic. “No, you’re not!” She blurted out loudly.

Benjamin stared at her, his amber eyes catching glints of the light in the room and giving him a menacing, sinister appearance. “What did you say?”

Cowering in fear now, Rhiannon felt terrified of her husband. The evil presence that she had been feeling since she entered the room seem to manifest now, made stronger by Ben’s emotions and suddenly she wasn’t so sure that she was even going to make it out of the room alive, much less succeed with her plans. Ben was unstable and her careless words of defiance had set him off now. She had to find a way to calm him down and bring him back around to her way of thinking without raising suspicion. If she failed, she knew that her life would be forfeit. “You think its Dustin, don’t you? You are going to go after him, I know it! He is out of his mind, mad with rage, but that doesn’t mean you have to go chase him down. He murdered Shaun, he tried to kill me, and he might decide to turn on you too. I can’t risk losing you, not again Benjamin. I’ve waited so long to be here at your side. I am the one who truly knows you, and can take all your pain away. Think about it… think about how you feel when you are with Dustin… you’re only half the man that you should be. You feel like you’re not quite whole, you’re missing something, something that you can’t quite put your finger on, and you know it’s not there anymore. It’s missing and until you find it, you will never be happy. Benjamin, I am that missing piece of you. I always have been and I always will be. Dustin was something you needed at the time, a temporary bandage to give your soul time to recover, but you don’t need him any longer. I am here now, with you at your side as your wife. I will never leave you. I promise to take care of you and take all that pain and hunger away, if you will let me. Stop punishing yourself, you don’t deserve it. Do the right thing here and walk away. Make it easy on yourself for once, stop trying to fix everything. If you won’t put yourself first for once, then think about us.” Rhiannon looked down to the child in her arms. “If you go after him, then you’re putting us both in danger here. All we have to do is walk out that door together and forget about all of this.”

Rhiannon’s words hung in the air between them, suspended in a awkward silence that descended on them. She waited for Ben to reach out and grab hold of her neck. If everything ended here, her life would be worthless. All she wanted to do was bring her son back to life, even if that meant going up against the Shepherd of the Damned. The minutes passed by, and then suddenly Ben reached out, and placed the child in her arms. “Watch over him until I get back.” He turned around and walked away from her before she could say another word. Stepping out into the hallway, he turned around and looked back into the observation room where Rhiannon stood, completely shocked. All the shadows from the room seem to have followed him out and swirled obediently at his feet. The dim light from the corridor beyond reflected in his pale white skin, giving him a ghastly appearance. “I wore your promise on my finger for years; I’ll wear your name on my heart until I die. Part of me will always be with you, and with our family. Rhiannon…if you don’t want to wait here for me, then so be it. This is my story and I want to find out how it ends.” Benjamin gave her one last unemotional look and started off down the long hall.

Baby Benjamin started crying, screaming in Rhiannon’s arms as a single tear slipped down over her cheek. She sank down to her knees and started to sob uncontrollably as the baby’s shrieks of discontent echoed loudly all around her. Rocking him back and forth, Rhiannon hummed a little melody to him, to try and get him to quiet down, but it was of no use. The baby wanted Benjamin and no amount of effort on her part could ever make him stop crying now. It didn’t matter anyway. She got what she wanted. Patiently she sat there on the floor with the child in her arms and fake tears in her eyes, waiting to see if her husband returned to the room. She knew that Benjamin would go after Dustin, no matter what, giving her ample time to take care of things. All she had to do was put on a show for him and make him believe that she still loved him. What happened to Benjamin after Burnley had returned was of no concern to her, but she knew that it would probably be the end of the man that she once cared very deeply for. It didn’t matter anyway; he would get exactly what was coming to him for loving someone else other than her. Let Burnley rip him apart with his bare hands, she would sit back and enjoy the show.

After several moments, when Benjamin didn’t return, she gently sat baby Ben down onto the floor and carefully peeled away the layers of soft, white blankets. She ran her fingers through the silken layers of his brown hair, and smiled down at him. “I am so sorry that this is going to happen to you, little one. If it’s any consolation, the sacrifice that you are making here today won’t be in vain. Your life will be given so that my little boy can have his back. He was taken from this world far too soon, it wasn’t fair. They did such terrible things to him, they turned him into a monster, and I want to give him another chance at life. You were a mistake, an accident, a soul that should never have been created in the first place, and therefore removing you from existence is the best thing that could happen.” Rhiannon bent down and placed a kiss on baby Ben’s forehead. The child’s arms and legs waved madly, and his face was red with rage as he screamed. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it quick and painless.” Reaching out with a trembling hand, she placed it over his nose and mouth, completely covering them. Feeling his little pink lips trying to open, and the desperate puffs of hair escaping from his nose, she began to apply pressure, pushing down and cutting off the flow of oxygen. Thrashing madly about, baby Ben’s muffled screams started to grow faint, and Rhiannon started to sing to drown them out.  
Is it you I want, or just the notion of  
A heart to wrap around so I can find my way around  
Safe to say from here, you're getting closer now  
We are never sad, cause we are not allowed to be  
Rain, rain, go away  
Come again another day  
All the world is waiting for the son

Closing her eyes, Rhiannon waited for the little baby in front of her to stop breathing. She could feel her heart beating in her throat now, and the beads of sweat form on her forehead. Moments passed and he kept moving, fussing, trying to cry, and still she held him down. Baby Ben refused to give in. Letting out a loud shriek, Rhiannon shouted down to him. “Nobody wants you! Fucking die already! I want my son back!” The baby locked his puffy red tinged amber eyes on her and suddenly she felt her heart break. There was something in those eyes that immediately drew her in. She let go of his face, drawing her hand back and looking at it guiltily. “I feel you, little one. I can sense the innocent soul inside of you, screaming, begging to be given the chance to live. I can’t let that happen, I am sorry, I really can’t. My son’s soul resides in there with you, I know that you feel it, and if I let you live on… If I walk away from all of this, you will suffer terribly night after night, hearing his voice echo in your head, whispering things, forcing you to remember things that he has done and sins he’s committed. Your head will feel like an egg that’s ready to crack and split open at any moment. You will become so desperate to get rid of the pain that you will do anything to make it go away, even for a short time. In the small hours of the night, when you lay there awake, you will think of ways to make it stop…but the truth is that there aren’t any, and there never will be, because he will forever be with you. The only peace you will ever receive is that of sweet, merciful death. And I will be the one to bring it to you.” Rhiannon reached out and gently picked up the child in her arms once again and placed him against her chest. Supporting his tiny back and head with her trembling hands, she kissed the side of his face. “What kind of mother am I to bring such a terrible thing to a child? Has love driven me to this, or was it madness?” Slowly, she started rocking back and forth. “I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry.” Her hand slipped down to baby Ben’s neck. The child looked up at her once again, and she turned away, unable to look at him. With one single flick of her wrist, she grabbed hold of his neck and gave it a quick snap. A tear slipped down her cheek, but different from before, this one was real. “I am sorry.” She whispered. “I need him, I need my son.”

Inhaling deeply, she placed the tiny lifeless body back down on the floor again. Baby Ben’s eyes were closed and she said a thankful prayer that it was over and she’d never have to look into them again. This was the second time today that she had taken a life; the guilt was much worse. Part of her wished that Benjamin would walk in and see what she had done. He’d be furious and tear her to shreds. It was a price that she was willing to pay to bring her own child back to life. All she wanted was to see Burnley one more time, hold him in her arms and tell him how much she missed him. What was wrong with that? After she had that one brief moment, she would let fate have its way. All the lying, all the manipulating, everything would be worth it for him to have a second chance at life. This is what parents do; they put the needs of their children in front of their own selfish desires. Any moment now, her son would come back; all she had to do is sit and wait. Trying to convince herself that he was only sleeping, she adjusted the blankets around the baby, and tilted his head to a more natural angle. Except for the cold skin and the blue color to his lips, he looked peaceful. The minutes went by like hours, and soon Rhiannon found herself becoming incredibly anxious. The silence and desolation of the room was almost unbearable. Something had to happen, and soon, or she felt as though she’d lose her mind, sitting there all alone staring at a corpse. “Why isn’t it working?” She said to herself. “Aaron assured me that once this child’s heart stopped beating that Burnley’s would start.” Gently placing two of her fingertips on baby Ben’s still chest, she waited. “Is he still alive? Is that a very faint heartbeat that I feel or is it my imagination? Shit… I can’t tell. I need to be certain.” Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew the knife that she used to kill Shaun. The blade gleamed brighter than the sun in the dim light. Slipping it under the hem of the child’s shirt, she slid it along the material, neatly slicing it open and revealing the soft, supple skin of his chest. Pushing the folds of the fabric away, she swallowed back the sick feeling that was rising in her throat and placed the blade between his tiny collarbones. “Forgive me for doing this, it has to be done. I won’t allow him to slip away from me. I need my son back.” Taking a deep breath, she applied slight pressure and brought the entire length of the knife down vertically across the baby’s chest. The blade sank into the skin, as easily as a knife through butter and soon a red line of blood began to form. Pulling herself up to her knees, Rhiannon placed her hands on the dull side of the blade and pressed down with a great amount of force. There was the sickening crunch as the metal bit down into the breastbone and ribcage, neatly cracking them in half. It was as easy as de-boneing a small chicken. Feeling satisfied, Rhiannon pulled the knife out and dropped it down onto the floor. She didn’t need it anymore, her hand fit right into the hole that she made. Reaching in past splintered bones and severed arteries, she let her fingers explore the bloody mess of the child’s cracked open chest cavity, until she found what she was looking for. Baby Ben’s heart. Wrapping her fingers around it, she gripped it tightly and gave it a slight tug, freeing it from its cage of tendons and muscles in a bloody mess. Holding it in the palm of her hand, Rhiannon began to squeeze on it. “YOU DON’T DESERVE TO LIVE. YOU ARE A MISTAKE, SOMETHING THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN GIVEN LIFE. GIVE ME MY SON BACK!” she screamed. The blood oozed out from between her fingers and ran down her arms as she mercilessly crushed the organ until there was nothing left but a few small pieces. She waited, and still nothing happened.

Angrily, she tossed the bits of flesh down onto the floor and rose to her feet. She began to pace around the room, like a caged animal, the blood dripping off her fingertips and splashing in puddles as she walked. “I did everything for you! I locked Brock’s soul away so he couldn’t hurt you anymore with his false claims of love. I took care of Dustin and the Messengers for you. I betrayed my husband… I’ve KILLED for you Burnley! What more do you want from me? Don’t you leave me alone like this! Come back to me and be where you belong!” Rhiannon threw her head back and let out a scream of rage. Balling up her hands into tight fists, she pounded them against the wall, leaving long, bloody streaks of gore behind. Looking out to the center of the room, she saw the small body of the child still lying there, broken and discarded and felt disgusted. Sick and disappointed with herself, for failing her own son, she leaned up against the wall and then slowly slid down, until she came to sit on the floor. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she noticed how quickly the blood was beginning to dry on her hands and wished that she could wipe it off. This was the evidence, the proof of the crimes and sins that she had committed, not only against the ones that she loved, but against nature itself. Putting Burnley’s soul into the body of an innocent child was wrong, and she knew it too, but didn’t care. Burnley meant the world to her, and if he didn’t come back to her, then there wouldn’t be a reason for living. She didn’t care if Prox was destroyed, or about how many lives she would have to take to get him back, Burnley would return. Sighing to herself, Rhiannon reached up and wiped her tears away, leaving crude red blood stains underneath her eyes, and then she started to laugh.

“Hey Scott, look I am sorry for what happened out there.” The doctor said as he clutched the illuminated chart in his hands. Standing near Tristan’s ben, he slightly moved away as Scott entered the Shallow Bay’s infirmary, looking tired and haggard. “I didn’t mean to stand against you, or force the men to make a decision like that…it all just got out of control. I was only thinking about trying to protect the people that we have here. I will admit that I jumped the gun thinking that Lizzie was a threat to us, but you have to know that since Benjamin betrayed us all and murdered all of those good people, and we’re all on edge.”

Scott made his way over to the bed, and looked down at the small child before him, wrapped up in cooling blankets and attached to a multitude of wires. He appeared to be sleeping, blissfully unaware of whatever ailment that was starting to take over his little body. “Lizzie will be back. She just needs time. The Carnivore conversion process that Burnley did on her never fully took over, and I am sure that the humanity that she has left inside of her will overcome it, just as it did before.”

“How can you be so certain?” The doctor asked, moving to the other side of Tristan’s small bed. “What makes you so confident that she will come back to us as a human and not a monster?”

Looking up, Scott smiled. “Because she’s got the most precious thing in the world to come back to. She won’t abandon her only child.”

“Then she needs to hurry, because he’s not doing very well.” The doctor said in a low voice.

Scott lowered himself down so that he was eye level with Tristan, and gently picked up the child’s arm, stroking his fingers across his soft, warm skin. “What’s wrong with him?”

Pushing a few buttons on the e-chart, the doctor presented it to Scott, who kept his eyes on the baby. Noticing his disinterest, the doctor took a long breath. “We don’t know exactly. Whatever it is came on so suddenly, and sent all of his major organs into shut down. Brain, kidneys, lungs, liver… they are all failing him and we don’t know why. His heart is the weakest now, and we are afraid that it could stop any time.” He pointed to one of the monitors above the bed that displayed the status of Tristan’s heart. “As you can see here, it’s very erratic. One minute it’s beating normally, the next it’s barely beating at all. Every time that it dips below a certain level, there is a chance that we’re going to lose him and we have to keep dumping more medicine into him. It gets harder every time. I am afraid that it’s going to get to the point where the rest of his organs have been stressed out enough that no matter what we do, it’s not going to be enough to bring him back.”

Running his hand through his beard, Scott leaned slightly against the bed. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “There has to be a way to save him. Blood transfusion, surgery, different medicine?”

The doctor shook his head. “We can’t treat him if we don’t know what’s wrong with him. We’ve run every single test that we can and nothing’s coming up. It all reads normal, and he shouldn’t be in this condition.” Taking a deep breath, the doctor set his chart aside and gave Scott a serious look. “I have a theory though...”

Scott stood up, the expression on his face suddenly filled with hope. “We’ve got to try everything that we can, no matter what it is! Tell me.”

The doctor started off slowly. “Tristan and Benjamin are twins; they have never been parted since they were born. Even while still in the womb, Lizzie refused to separate them, even when her own life was at risk. Keeping them together was very important for her. At first I thought that it was because of some sort of ‘family’ thing, but I suspect that there is more to it now. We know that Benjamin took one of the boys to Dawn, but we don’t know what happened to him. I am thinking that perhaps there is some sort of bond, or psychic link between the two of them that connects them together. There have been studies done in the past about this that prove this connection does exist, and is real. My theory is that whatever it is that the child Benjamin took is going through, the same thing is happening to Tristan. Baby Ben is forcing his brother to share in his pain. Lizzie wanted the two boys together so that this would never happen.”

“Fucking Benjamin, what are you doing to that kid?” Scott muttered under his breath. A thousand different scenarios ran through his head all at once of what could be happening to Tristan’s twin, but none of them were good. It all boiled down to the fact that the child was in danger, possibly dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop the same thing happening to Tristan. “I am going to go to Dawn. If I hurry I might be able to make it there in a few hours, since the storm subsided a bit. I’ll find out what he’s doing there and stop it. I made a promise to Lizzie that I won’t let anything happen to her son and I intend to keep it.” Turning around, Scott headed for the door when the doctor moved in front of him, blocking his path and shaking his head. “What are you doing? Get out of my way. I have to go do this.”

The doctor stepped away, fearing retribution from the much larger man. “I don’t know how long Tristan is going to last. He’s fading, fast. I can’t tell you if he has minutes or days left, it’s all a gamble. If you run out there, then you’re just as bad as Lizzie, leaving a child here to die alone. Can you really cope with the fact that he died without seeing the face of someone that he knows? Scott, Thomas is gone, Lizzie is missing… I saw the way that the men respected you out there in the hall; we can’t afford to have you go too. We may have had our difference in opinion before, but right now you are the only thing that is holding the Shallow Bay together. You need to stay.”

Reaching out and knocking the chart out of the doctor’s hand, Scott whirled around with an angry look set hard on his face. “Don’t tell me what to do. Tristan is my responsibility right now and I will….” Suddenly his words were cut off as he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. Glancing over at the massive bay window in the infirmary, he slowly approached it, seeing a swirling curtain of darkness looming outside. “Do you see that?” He asked the doctor. Before he could respond, the window exploded, sending shards of glass flying into the room. Immediately Scott dove forward, putting his body over top of Tristan’s to shield the child as best that he could. The doctor’s eyes widened for a moment, as he stared in grim fascination at the sight before him of a thousand swirling crows swooping into the room, flapping their wings and covering everything in a blanket of thick darkness. Unable to react in time, a large piece of glass broke free, and came right at him, plunging right through his neck with great speed, slicing through flesh and bone with a massive spray of blood that shot out and covered the walls. Scott could see the doctor drop down to his knees for a moment, clutching the spot where the glass had penetrated his throat, and then collapse lifelessly down to the floor, the blood spilling out and pooling up underneath him. Keeping his head down low, he avoided the rest of the projectiles as they were flung through the air, but he could do nothing about the claws of the birds as they flew around the room, talons arched and swooping down onto him. They scratched at his back, ripping his shirt and jacket to shreds, fully intent upon flaying the flesh right off his spine. The loud raucous calls from their throats echoed loudly, and sounded much like guttural laughter as they continued their assault. Reaching up, he swatted at them, trying to make them go away, but they were persistent in their assault and continued to dive down upon him, two or three at a time, plunging their bodies right into him. He could feel the impact as each of the small creatures slammed against him, leaving bloody marks behind as they fell down to the floor with a thump. His mind raced as he tried to come up with a plan for getting Tristan out of the room. Glancing up slightly, he could see that the birds were confined just to the one room; they had not made it past the steel shutter doors that led out of the Infirmary. If he could just grab the baby, wrap him up in blankets and make a run for the door, he might be safe. He reached down and started to remove some of the intravenous lines and monitors that were attached to the baby when he realized that the birds were starting to settle down. They had stopped their attack. Curious, he lifted his head up to see that they were still in the room, hundreds of them, but now they were all perched on the shelves that lined the walls, watching him. The white curtains parted and standing in front of the broken window, was the dark, sinister shape of Selene Bell.

Slowly, Scott stood up, trying his best to ignore the blinding pain in his back from the multiple, bleeding lacerations. “What do you want?” He asked her through clenched teeth. Selene cocked her head to the side and pointed toward the place where Tristan’s bed was. “No.” He said sternly. “He doesn’t belong to you.” Reaching down to his side, Scott pulled out his gun and aimed it at her. “I am only going to tell you this once. Leave this place. Turn around, take your birds with you and walk out. You’ve taken one life here already; I refuse to let you take anymore. This is your one chance. Go now, or I swear that I will kill you.” A small smile came across Selene’s face as she raised her arms up. Her long, dark cloak swirled around her fluttering in the warm, humid air and then the crows started chattering loudly on their perches. Scott powered up his weapon, and the dull hum of electricity started to flow through it. Lifting his arm up, he aimed right for the center of her head. “You can’t have him.” He murmured and without hesitation, pulled the trigger. The laser gun sparked to life, emitting a bright beam of electricity towards Selene, but she didn’t move. Just as it was about to hit it’s mark, she reached up and caught it with her hand stopping it in midair. Scott’s jaw dropped as he watched her pluck it right out of the air and start to bend and shape it with her hands. Shifting it back and forth, she turned the beam into an orb of sparkling energy and then held it up dramatically for him to see. The glowing ball crackled and flashed in the small room, making Scott’s hair stand on end. Pulling her arm back, she gestured grandly and then tossed it across the room towards him. Unable to react in time, it hit Scott squarely in the chest with such great force that it knocked him backwards and threw him against the wall. The sickening smell of burning clothing and flesh filled the air as he slumped down, clutching at the front of his shirt, screaming out in pain. Across the room, Selene moved forward, approaching Tristan’s bed. Scott looked up and raised his weapon again. “I told you…..you can’t have him.” With a flick of her hand, Selene forced the gun from his fingers and sent it rattling across the floor and Scott let out a cry of rage. 

Selene looked down into the bed at the sleeping form of her grandson. Reaching out to touch him, she gently laid her hand on the top of his head and closed her eyes for a moment. A slight smile came across her black lips and then quickly faded away. Opening her eyes, she pulled her hand away and grabbed hold of the tubes and wires that kept him connected to the machines which were keeping him alive and gave them all a quick yank. “No!” Scott shouted and pulled himself to his feet, pushing past the crushing pain in his chest. “You’re going to kill him if you do that.” All at once the monitors started going off with their high pitched warning tones and beeps, signaling that the connection between the patient and computer had been disconnected. Tristan started to wake up, fussing and whimpering in the bed in obvious discomfort. Scott knew that the other medical staff would be in now to check on the child, and he had to act fast, or else more people would get hurt. Lunging forward, as Selene was distracted, he ran right toward her, catching her off guard and hitting her square in the chest, knocking her off balance. Together, they fell down to the floor, Selene landing square on her back with Scott on top of her. Tristan started crying, screaming at the top of his lungs and the crows let out a series of high pitched calls, mocking the baby’s tone with great amusement. Scott sprang into action, pushing himself up and putting his entire weight on the woman’s small body. Holding her down by her shoulder with one hand, he tightened his other hand up into a fist and started to punch her with full force, each of his blows careful and precise, landing on her face without mercy. He thought about Lizzie, and the promise that he made to her that he would protect her son, and this gave him the power to continue the vicious assault. Soon his fists were covered in thick, black blood and he could no longer feel her moving underneath him. Stopping to catch his breath, he looked down to see that her face was totally misshapen and deformed now, his fists having broken bones and shattered her skull in several places so fiercely now that she hardly resembled a woman at all. He sat back for a moment and heard some sort of commotion behind him. The medical staff had seen what happened and called for a security squad, who were all now filing in one at a time, shocked at the sight in front of them. Flexing his hand, Scott wiped the blood off of it and started to move away, when Selene reached out and grabbed a piece of glass from the broken window and jammed it forward, ramming it right into his stomach. Scott’s eyes widened as he felt the sharp shard penetrate his skin, and then the warm rush of blood as it flowed out of his body at an alarming rate. Looking at her in disbelief, he stumbled backwards as the security team came forward.

Selene staggered to her feet, pulling her black hood back down over her face and extended her arm. The black and purple scythe appeared at her side and she reached out for it, her fingers lovingly wrapped around the shaft as she leaned heavily on it and made her way back over to Tristan. Grabbing hold of all the blankets that surrounded the child, he squirmed and cried out loudly as she yanked them off, exposing his tender young flesh.

“Don’t you fucking touch him, you bitch!” Scott shouted, but his feeble attempts of warning did nothing to stop her.

Holding her weapon up, it towered over him for a moment, the blade glimmering brightly, waiting to draw the first bit of blood from his soft skin. No one in the room moved, the only sound that could be heard was that of the birds ruffling their feathers in anticipation. Selene’s hands gripped the scythe tightly, as tiny droplets of her blood dripped down off and pattered quietly onto the floor. Then unexpectedly, Tristan stopped crying. The pink color faded from his cheeks and he turned his bright blue eyes toward Selene and looked right at her, smiling. His little arm stretched up, reaching for her. His fingers touched her pale skinned hand, and at that moment, something inside of her stirred, and she was no longer standing in the Shallow Bay.

She was standing on the edge of the sidewalk, in the pouring rain just outside of a church. Dressed in a long black mourning gown, she watched as people slowly filed out of the doors and away from the funeral, each of them scurrying to their cars to avoid getting caught in the downpour. Pulling the veil back away from her face, she saw the familiar faces as the exited the church, speaking quietly to one another. Not one of them paid attention to the little boy who quickly slipped away to play by himself on the other side of the church. As he moved away from the group, Selene followed him silently, and watched as he jumped from puddle to puddle, singing a song about the rain. Moving in closer, she was only a few feet away from him, when suddenly he stopped his game and looked right at her. “Hello.” He said to her, waving his tiny little hand.

Looking around and seeing that the adults were all now searching frantically for the child, Selene stepped forward and approached him. “You shouldn’t be out here all alone.” She whispered to him. “Go back to your mother, she’s looking for you.”

Smiling, the little boy’s gray-green eyes focused on her. “I’m not alone. You’re here with me.” Walking over to her, he moved away from his muddy puddle and put his hand in hers. “Come play with me!”

“No!!” Selene said, taking a few steps backwards. Her high heeled Victorian boots sank down in the mud as the hem of her black skirt followed behind, becoming heavy with the thick mud.

“It’s okay.” The little boy said, his eyes changing from gray-green to amber right in front of her. “I trust you, you won't let anything happen to me.”

One of the crows’ squawked loudly, and Selene’s heart thudded inside of her chest. She loosened the grip on the scythe. “I can’t do this.” She whispered. “This is too much. I took one child already, I refuse to take another. He’s just a baby. Take me instead.” Shaking, she let go of the scythe, letting it clatter down to the floor with a loud crash. A breeze blew in from the broken window, fluttering her long dark curls down around her face which was hidden from view. With a trembling hand, she leaned forward, inches away from the child. No one in the room moved. Deep inside, she knew that her time was done, and was thankful. She was tired of the senseless killing. The crows from high above left their perches and dove down around Selene, surrounding her. She took a step back, away from the bed as they started to attack her without warning. Their claws sliced into her, through layers of fabric and flesh, eager to rip her apart bit by bit as their beaks pulled at the lacerated skin, creating huge gaping wounds that oozed with blood. She started screaming as they swirled around her, digging, biting, scraping off flesh from bones.

One of the men grabbed Scott’s shoulder and guided him back away from her and the crows. Watching helplessly, Scott clutched at his stomach and saw how utterly vicious and unrelenting they creatures were in their assault. Large, black feathers swirled around the room as their wings beat furiously, each one desperate to claim a piece of her flesh for their own. Her body torn apart, Selene soon dropped back down to the floor, her long black cloak in tatters all around her. The palms of her hands hit the concrete floor first, and then as her strength gave away, what was left of her body followed. Calling out in triumph, the birds took to the air, flying into the faces of the security men for a moment to frighten them, before retreating back out the window, leaving Selene dying on the floor behind them. The men lowered their weapons and Scott limped back over to her slowly. The surrounded him as he bent down and pulled the hood away from her face. “Why Tristan? Why him? He’s just a child.”

Lifting her eyes up, she looked to Scott. Strangely enough, she looked content, and almost relieved. “Because… he wanted me to….” she whispered. Her fingers stretched out and touched Scott’s bloody hand for a moment. “I couldn’t do it… he’s too… innocent. His soul is pure… He will inherit Prox after… we… are all…gone.” Scott tried to pull his hand away from her, but she held it tightly with the last of her strength. “Not… you… Scott… you… must see… what… I see… before it’s too… late.” His vision blurred and he saw a shape of a figure dressed in a sleeveless hoodie standing at the control panel of a computer terminal. Slowly, the man turned around and pulled down on the hood.

“Travis?” Scott whispered. Selene’s fingers slipped away from his hand. “Was that Travis?” he asked, his voice demanding and anxious.

Selene drew in one more breath as her eyes closed. “Forgive… the children…” All life left her, and Scott watched as her broken body slowly started to turn to ash and fade away. A small gust of wind from the broken window came in and scattered the ashes away until there was nothing left of her or the crows. The room was silent. Motionless, Scott could do nothing but stare at the place where Selene’s body had once been. He reached down and slid his fingers along the floor, picking up traces of the ash that had been left behind and became lost in his own thoughts for a moment. Seeing the vision of Travis had thrown him off, and now he couldn’t stop thinking about him. What was he doing here on Prox? How did he get here and how was he connected to Selene? It didn’t make any sense. Everything was starting to unravel and he felt like the threads of reality were slipping from his fingers.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by one of the security men trying to help him to his feet. Struggling, Scott grabbed hold of the man’s arm and pulled himself up, the pain in his stomach tolerable, but still incredibly painful. Looking over across the room, that’s when he saw the medical team surrounding Tristan’s bed. They all were scurrying about, working frantically on the small child. “No…” Scott whimpered. The soldier next to him grabbed hold of Scott’s body as he doubled over in pain from his wound. His eyes remain locked on the scene before him, and he blocked everything else out. The nurses struggled to hurry and reconnect the tubes and wires that were keeping Tristan alive, their fingers moving fast, trying the best that they could to sort out the mess.  
One of the nurses came over and tried to examine Scott, but he pushed her away, he didn’t care about himself, he had to make sure that the baby was going to be alright. Soon the monitors above the bed flickered and came back online, their displays showing the status of the little boy laying there motionless. Each colorful line that ran across the illuminated screen was flat. Each of the numbers displayed zeroes. Scott felt his heart sink. The doctors continued to work on the child, pumping multiple drugs into his system, shocking him, trying everything that they could, but the numbers never changed, there was no blips on the screen. Nothing. Tristan’s heart refused to start again. Lizzie’s son was dead, and now Scott felt like he was too. Running forward, he pushed the soldiers and nurses out of his way and leaned over the side of the bed to see the small child lying there lifeless and cold. He grabbed hold of one of the IV poles and threw it across the room in rage, letting out a loud scream of defeat. The wound in his stomach started to bleed again, making him lightheaded and soon Scott found himself surrounded by the doctors and nurses rushing to his side. His world was falling apart. Dropping down to his knees, he started to weep. They weren’t tears for Lizzie, Tristan, or Travis, but instead tears of sorrow for himself, shed out of disappointment and guilt for letting those that depended on him down. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was the medical team from the Shallow Bay looming over him, trying to save his life. Closing his eyes, he let the darkness take him, because dying was much better than facing the guilt that he would have to live with after this day.

The doors to Eden opened once again, allowing Lizzie to easily step inside. The pain inside of her head had dulled to a slight ache, but still remained as a constant reminder that it wasn’t going away anytime soon. As she stepped inside, the thick fog and mist that had taken over Prox followed her in she crossed the threshold, spilling out around her ankles like some sort of living creature. The voices inside of her head were still there, calling out to her, begging, pleading her to come save them and they were what kept her moving, even when she was too exhausted to stop. Looking around, her eyes scanned the dark halls that sprawled out in front of her, and then she started walking, knowing exactly where to go. As she made her way through the base, every now and then her mind would start to wander and fleeting thoughts would creep inside that she was forgetting something, or leaving something very precious behind. As soon as she would get close to remembering, the pain would start again and her body would seize up, sending waves of agony flowing through her from the back of her head all the way down her body, and she would have no choice but to keep moving and forget again. Everything around her now seemed strangely familiar and yet completely new to her. It was almost as if she had been here before, but the personal memories of it were being subdued, filed away in the back of her head.

Eventually she found herself nearing her destination. She stood at the entrance of a long, dark hall that ended in a massive room sealed with steel doors. Walking forward, she slowly approached them and noticed that there were old, dried bloodstains smeared across the walls here on either side of the doors. Paying the grim splashes of color no mind, she stepped forward and the doors opened up for her. Someone had been here before with a master key and had left them open, failing to lock them after they had left. Using great caution, she made her way inside and scanned the room beyond. It was a control room with a computer set up on a massive desk and many monitors mounted on it, all of which were switched off. Moving around to the front of the desk, she pulled out the chair and sat down, noticing that there was a half-finished cup of liquid sitting there. Curious, she picked it up and sloshed the dark brown substance inside of it around and wrinkled her nose at the bitter smell. Someone had obviously left in a rush and hadn’t had time to finish their coffee. The voices inside of her head where whispering to her now, urging her to hurry, and telling her what to do to free them. Gently sitting the cup back down, she switched on the computer, and sat back, waiting for it to come to life. She looked around at the room and suddenly felt a chill. This was a part of the base that she had never been in before; there was no reason for her to come down here. Thomas had kept it sealed off because there was no use for it. The computer screen lit up and she sat forward, her hands stretching out for the keys. She stopped for a moment and held her fingers out over them. Thomas? Who was Thomas? Looking away from the monitor, she tried to force herself to remember. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t see his face in her head and it infuriated her. The more she thought about his name, the more her heart started to hurt, and her eyes started to sting. What was wrong with her? The voices in her head screamed at her, and she brought her hands up to her head and let out a loud cry. They were getting anxious now, and wanted to be free. She brought her hands down to the keys and as she started to concentrate on the task at hand, they settled down once again and became patient. She was only moments away from freeing them all now. As each one of the monitors turned on, her eyes scanned the images on the screen of the room behind her. Each of the bodies carefully laid out and preserved on the bed were waiting to be awakened. They were former members of the FEC that Aaron had imprisoned and then put into a state of stasis at Rhiannon’s command. It was her plan to have these men and women ready for when Burnley was awakened, to serve as his own personal army, and follow whatever path he chose to take. Only now, with Aaron dead and Rhiannon's control over them gone, they were nothing more than ghosts in the machine, lifeless beings tired of being manipulated and enslaved, waiting for a moment to rise up and strike against her. Together through the use of electronic impulses, their collective consciences formed as one and managed to seek out and activate the last fragment of FEC/Carnivore coding that existed on Prox, which happened to be buried inside of Lizzie’s head, sleeping dormant. They called her to Eden to be set free, fully intent on destroying Rhiannon, and until that task could be completed, they would never release her.

Accessing the main program to start the revival program, Lizzie started to key in the lines of code that would awaken the sleeping FEC members when suddenly a dark shadow passed over the monitor in front of her. Pausing for a moment, she lifted her fingers off the keys and listened. The only thing that could be heard was the quiet whirring of the computer console in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to relax and listen to the commands that they were giving her. In the room opposite her, each of the bodies were starting to come to life, breathing, moving, and stirring gently on their metal gurneys. Satisfied, Lizzie sat back in the chair and patiently waited. She would go with them to Dawn after they all awakened. She too wanted revenge on Rhiannon, but couldn’t quite figure out why. Looking down at her misshapen fingers, she saw the dull metal on her finger of her wedding ring and stared at it curiously. Just then, the door to the room opened, and a man stepped inside. Lizzie jumped to her feet, immediately taking a defensive position. “Who are you?” She snarled.

Travis stepped into the room, pulling his hood away from his face. “Someone who has come here to help you.” Cautiously, he made his way around the room over to the side of the desk. “You don’t know me Lizzie, but I know all about you, and more importantly, I know why you are here.”

“I don’t know you and I don’t need any help. You can leave.” She shot back, glaring at him intently.

Travis took his backpack off, gently sitting it down on the floor and then moved across the room to casually lean against the wall, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Fine, have it your way, I won’t bother you, I will let you go on doing exactly what you are doing now, but I am not going anywhere. I am going to stand right here and wait until you are done. Because I am curious about the outcome.”

Lizzie cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean by that? I’ve done everything that they’ve asked me to, the program is running correctly. Soon those poor souls will be set free, myself included and then they will go find Rhiannon and destroy her. Prox will return to normal. That is exactly what is going to happen. Leave. You are not wanted or needed.”

Sliding his hands into his pockets, Travis gave her a curious look. “Then what happens after that, Lizzie? Once Rhiannon is dead what do you think will happen to all of those things after they accomplish their mission? They have access to your head, you can hear their thoughts, close your eyes and take a moment to listen to them, and they are not the innocent humans that you thought they once were. These are people that the FEC has altered experimented on and used for their own personal research. None a single one of them will be in their right mind, lunacy and insane thoughts run rampant inside of their heads. There is no telling what they will do, and of course the worst part is that you won’t be able to do anything about it. After the process is complete and you press that button to awaken them, you will lose all traces of who you once were. You will be their slave.”

Looking away from Travis, Lizzie focused on the flashing cursor on the computer monitor in front of her. The process was complete. All she had to do was press the enter button and they would all be set free. All the voices inside of her head would stop crying out in pain, begging for release. They had suffered, tortured by a woman and kept alive for months, trapped in darkness and all they wanted was revenge. Whispering, they promised her that she too could be set free. The man across the room from her was lying to her, trying to manipulate her with impure thoughts. “I don’t believe you.” She whispered. “They need help. I need to help them…that’s what I do… I am a nurse.”

Travis raised an eyebrow. “Oh you are? Then tell me what it’s like to take care of a person. How does it make you feel?”

“What a ridiculous question!” Lizzie scoffed. “If they are sick, or injured, you do your best to repair their wounds so that they can continue to live.”

“That’s a logical answer, but I want a real one.” Travis said sharply. He was obviously pushing her, leading her on with his biting sarcasm. “But that’s not what I asked you. I asked you how it felt when you took care of someone. What did you feel when you lost people that you took care of? How did it make you feel inside to know that even through all your efforts, you couldn’t save them, no matter how hard you tried? They all just slipped right through your fingers.”

Slowly, Lizzie sat back down in the chair and pondered the question. Furrowing her brow, she tried to remember, to recall the feelings and emotions of her past but nothing was there. It was if her mind had some sort of wall inside of it, dividing her normal thoughts from the emotional ones. “I.. I don’t know what it feels like. I can’t remember.”

Moving away from the wall, Travis walked over to her, and knelt down beside her as she sat in the chair. He pointed at the screen. “That’s because they are trying to stop you from remembering. Lizzie, you have a family that you care for very much. They mean more to you than anything else, but since these…. People took control of you; they are trying to make you forget about all of that. You aren’t supposed to be here, you should be back at the Shallow Bay, taking care of the ones that you love who remain there. I am not trying to coerce you; all I want is that you try your best to remember them, and how it feels when you’re close to them, because if you go through with this, you will never feel like that again. They will own you, forever.”

Looking down at her hands, she lightly ran her clawed finger tips over the metal band on her ring finger, and saw a flash of Thomas’s smiling face emerge from her memories. “Is there anything left worth going back for?” She asked in a small voice. “Everything’s falling apart and everyone I cared about is being taken away. Maybe I want to be one of the unthinking things in that room. At least if I become their puppet then I wouldn’t have to feel all this pain inside of me anymore.” Travis set his eyes on her and smiled. “Why are you smiling at me? Is something I said amusing to you?”

Travis shook his head. “You’re not one of them, Lizzie. You’re fighting the programming and you don’t even know it. Thomas helped you through it before, and now you’ve come so far that you are able to do it on your own. You are feeling things again, aren’t you? You’re remembering Thomas, and his life, and how he made you feel, and the rest is coming back too, proving that you want to live. Don’t be afraid of it, this is what it’s like to be human. Life seems sometimes like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end. How you respond to those losses, what you make of what's left, that's the part of you that makes you special. You’re a fighter, so do what you’re supposed to and fight this. There are no more Carnivores left, except for you… and the things in there, after they are gone, no one will ever be able to harm you again. All the programming that they did to you back at the FEC base will be obliterated and harmless. I can take you back to the Shallow Bay and we both can set things right.” He looked away from her for a moment, and drew in a long deep breath, holding it into his lungs for a very long time. “I too, have someone there who I need to talk to…to say I am sorry.”

Reaching out her hand, Lizzie placed it on Travis’s shoulder. “Then let’s go back, forget about this place and… ugh…” She stopped and put a hand on her head, closing her eyes shut tightly.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Travis asked anxiously.

Clenching her teeth, Lizzie moaned in pain. “It’s my head; it hurts so much, just like before. They are screaming inside my skull they, want me to free them.”

Travis moved closer to her. “Fight it, Lizzie. They know that they are losing and are trying to hurt you to make you do what they want. Don’t let them win. Look deep inside of yourself and hold onto the things that you love, the things that make you who you are. Think about your husband, and how gentle and caring he was, think about your children and how much you love them. You have friends, family and so many people who care about you and want you back—“ Before he could finish his sentence, Lizzie’s eyes shot open and her hand shot out, wrapping around Travis’s neck. Her curled talons held him tightly as she slowly rose to her feet, pulling him up with her and let out a low guttural growl that broke the eerie silence.

“Travis Owen. You do not belong here. This is not your war.” With a tremendous amount of strength, Lizzie pulled her arm back and then flung Travis’s body up against the wall. His back hit the steel door that separated the rooms and all the breath was forced from his lungs. Kicking the chair aside, she walked across the room and stood over him. “That’s right. We know all about you, and Scott. We’ve been monitoring transmissions ever since you arrived here on Prox. Did you really think that by coming here, you could save Earth from total annihilation? Did you think that Project Vela could succeed where others have failed?” Lifting his head, Travis glared at her in defiance, but remained quiet. “You humans are so pathetic.” With a smirk, Lizzie stepped forward and jammed the tip of her boot into his stomach. Wincing in pain, Travis grimaced and clenched his teeth tightly together to stop from crying out. Seeing him suffering enough, and completely uninterested in torture, Lizzie stepped away and went back over to the computer, the brightly illuminated lines of text flashing, signaling that the creatures in the next room were ready to be awakened. All that was left was one final keystroke. Lizzie’s fingertip hovered above the enter button.

Behind her, Travis leaned forward slightly and grabbed his backpack that he had set down earlier. Opening it up, he quietly removed the com device and slipped it onto his wrist. He leaned his head up against the door. The metal was unnaturally cool to the touch, the result of the refrigeration unit keeping the bodies enclosed from breaking down. “I didn’t come here to save the Earth. I came here to save one person.”

Smirking, Lizzie slid her finger over the plastic key of the keyboard, and looked right at Travis. “Then you have failed. Lizzie is ours now. There is nothing you can do to get her back. She will be our new leader, the new messiah bathed and baptized in the blood of the Burnley’s. Their sacrifice will be the first of many before Prox will be ours.” Her eyes turned from him to the computer and with one grand gesture, she pressed down on the key. The computer screen filled up with lines of code as the program started to run through the final phase, and the lights in the next room turned on, one at a time in sequential order, illuminating the bodies that were starting to awaken now.

Reaching out for the wall, Travis staggered to his feet. Standing upright, he threw his backpack over a shoulder and shook his head. “I never said that it was Lizzie that I was trying to save.” With a loud bang, a large steel bolt slid across the door behind him, sealing it shut. Each of the computers that were attached to the bodies beyond began to run a program, and send electrical impulses down the wires that were connected to their brains. Their bodies started to convulse, as little wisps of smoke could be seen at the place on their heads where the wires went in, and soon foam started oozing from their mouths. The screens went blank for a moment, and then all at once they switch back on, displaying a large broken “V”. The creatures were writing in pain, clawing and pulling at the wires, trying desperately to get them out of their heads as the hacked signal started to destroy brain tissue and drive them insane. Most of them died within seconds, but a few that managed to get the wires out ran to the door, or the viewing window in an effort to get out. Their skin, weakened by months of entropy, was no match for the steel door and reinforced glass, and in a fit of rage and madness they beat upon it, leaving bloody streaks behind from broken bones and shattered skulls.

Lizzie ran to the window and watched the macabre scene unfold before her. “What have you done?”

“I got here earlier and did a little hacking of the program that was set to revive them. When activated instead of bringing them back to life, it would kill them and destroy them. The only problem was that I didn’t have the access code to start the process myself. I had to wait for someone else to do it. When I found out what happened at the Shallow Bay with Lizzie, I knew that she was coming here and all I had to do was wait. She couldn’t fight against the programming, no matter what I said. You had the upper hand, and that is exactly what I needed. So when you pressed that button, you brought down the last of the FEC network yourself. Now you’re the only one that remains, the last Carnivore standing on Prox.” As Travis spoke, the far end of the stasis room suddenly exploded in a bright ball of flames, instantly setting the curtains, bedding and some of the bodies on fire. The smell of burnt flesh quickly started to creep in under the steel door. He turned to see Lizzie’s startled expression. “That’s right; I’ve locked them all in there to burn to death.”

Slowly, she sank down to her knees, and started to cry. Turning away from her, Travis made his way to the door to leave and stopped, his hand resting on the handle. “I am sorry it had to be this way. You don’t deserve anything that has happened to you.” He looked down at his communication device and saw that a message had appeared there. As the fire crackled behind him, he brought his wrist up and scanned over the glowing letters.

.::Mission successful, Project Vela progression going as planned. Proceed to next target at once. Do not delay::.

‘do you want to see what she’s done to your son’  
‘we can show you’  
‘but it has to be now, because we are dying’  
‘fading fast’  
‘you have a moment to decide’  
‘…..he never had a chance…..’  
‘we can help you’  
‘together’

“What’s going happen to me?” Lizzie whispered. She didn’t know if she was asking Travis or the voices inside of her head.

Travis pushed a few buttons on the comm device and kept his voice low. “The lingering pain in your head should go away in a short time. The FEC no longer has any control over you, you are free to do whatever you want, Lizzie Bell.”

Her hands were shaking and suddenly she was feeling very cold. Wrapping her arms around her shoulders, she stood up and looked away from the fiery blaze contained in the room behind her. They may have been genetically engineered pseudo-carnivores created by the FEC, but part of them was still human, and was once alive. Brains scrambled and burned alive, it was a terrible way to go. “You said that we could go back to the Shallow Bay, I want to go there now. I need to be there with my son…and Scott. They need me.” Her voice was quiet and quivering. She seemed so fragile and vulnerable. “I don’t even know how I got here…Please, can you help me get home?”

Taking his hand away from the door handle, Travis pulled his hood back up over his head and turned around to face her. “I am sorry. I can’t. I have something that I have to take care of.” Even the thought of seeing Scott again made his heart ache, Travis knew that Project Vela came first. He would have to wait. “There’s a control room a few floors up, the power is still on and you can send a signal…”

“I know where it is.” Lizzie said abruptly, interrupting him. She took a long deep breath and then slowly exhaled. “Thomas and Dustin left me… Benjamin left me… I lost one of my children…” She lowered her head and forced back tears that were threatening to overcome her. “I am tired of being left all alone. If you won’t take me back to the Shallow Bay, then let me come with you… don’t leave me here in this place by myself all alone, there’s too many memories here. I’ll go mad.” Moving forward, she grabbed hold of both of his hands and clutched them.

Travis’s first instinct was to pull away. He knew that he couldn’t take her with him, and he didn’t have time to sit and wait. His mission was of critical importance, for both worlds. Having read her file, he knew what she had gone through, being converted into a Carnivore and then recovered, only to have all the information and programming suddenly slammed back into her head once again was more than any one person should ever have to deal with. He looked down to the comm device on his wrist, which was illuminated by a very faint green light and knew what it meant. He had to leave. Lizzie caught his eye and followed it down to his wrist, looking curiously at the device. He sighed, holding a hand up to her. “Alright, here’s the deal, I can take you to the outskirts of the Shallow Bay, just beyond the perimeter, but no closer than that. Once you are there, you are on your own. I am sure that you can find a way in. Once they see you, I am sure that they will send someone out to come get you. Don’t tell anyone I helped you, or that you even spoke to me, it would put a lot of people in danger, do you understand?”

A smile came across Lizzie’s face and she wiped the tears away, instantly jumping into Travis’s arms to give him a awkward hug. “Thank you so much. I will do whatever you say, I promise that I won’t tell Scott a word about this.”

Pushing her away, Travis stared at her wide-eyed. “What did you just say?”

Lizzie giggled and moved to the other side of the room. “I told you, I know all about you, and Scott. I know why you are concealing yourself from him, and I know the current mission of the Vela Project.”

Travis stared at her in disbelief. “You can’t know about the Vela program… unless you’re retaining memories from the others that were inside your head. All this knowledge should have been evaporated and purged from your brain as they all burned up.” He looked at her with pleading eyes. “Lizzie, these are FEC memories, you need to let them go or else you’re going to lose it. There is no reason to hang on to them any longer; they can’t co-exist inside your head with your own. Don’t be a host for them! You will completely lose it.”

“RHIANNON RIPPED MY SONS HEART OUT! SHE MURDERED MY CHILD!” Lizzie screams reverberated through the small room, louder than the crashes and explosions from the room beyond. “I DON’T CARE WHAT IT TAKES! I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL HER. I WANT HER HEART IN MY HAND SO THAT I CAN CRUSH IT TO BITS JUST LIKE SHE HAS DONE TO BABY BENJAMIN.” Tears were streaming down her eyes again, and as she spoke, she started to hunch over, taking on a more sinister, more Carnivore appearance. “I AM GOING TO MAKE HER PAY, AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.”

Cursing the fact that he had placed his weapon back in his backpack, Travis slipped it off his shoulder and held it out in front of him. “This isn’t the way to seek revenge. Listen to me… that strength, that power that you are feeling right now, that’s not your own, that’s the FEC. You’re turning yourself into one of them, can’t you see that?” Slowly, he managed to get the flap of the bag open and reach inside, his fingertips finding the handle of the gun. “If you give in and let them take you, there’s no coming back from it this time. I saw your file, Lizzie. I know about the countless hours that you stayed awake at night, afraid that if you close your eyes and go to sleep the dreams will come back… those terrible, terrible dreams about becoming a Carnivore, a creature controlled by someone else. Look at you; you are letting it happen, you are letting them control you and why? Because of revenge? This isn’t the way to do it.” He took one step forward, the palm of his hand now gripped tightly over the weapon concealed in his bag. “Let me help you.”

The corner of Lizzie’s mouth upturned into a snarl and Travis could see the terrible gleam of razor sharp teeth protruding from within. There was no need for machines or chemicals for the final phase of the Carnivore process to be complete, she was letting it all happen. “You’ve already helped me Travis, more so than you know.” Holding her arm up, she let the light fall upon her wrist, and the small comm device that she had stolen from him could be seen there.

“No!” Travis let go of his backpack and withdrew the gun in one fluid motion. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger and fired a series of shots across the room at her. With her enhanced Carnivore reflexes, Lizzie quickly ducked out of the way and avoided them. The blasts collided with the computer monitors, exploding them and showering the room with thousands of sparks. Travis raised a hand to shield his eyes and before he knew it, she had moved behind him and jumped onto his back with such force that it caused him to topple over and fall down to the floor. The weapon slipped from his grip and went skittering across the room. He felt her weight upon him, and fought through the lung crushing pain, trying desperately to reach out and take hold of something, anything to get her off of him. Positioning herself so that she was sitting across his buttocks, Lizzie arched her claws and began to slash at his back, slicing through layers of clothing, fully intent of filleting the skin right off his bones. Struggling, Travis managed to grip hold of the edge of the desk with both hands, and using it as leverage, he arched his back and threw her off of him just as the first of her talons sliced through his flesh. The blood shot out of his wound, spraying Lizzie in the face as she sprang back up and kicked him as hard as she could in his midsection. The injury from the first kick, still fresh and painful, the second one was more intense, and it caused Travis to immediately roll over onto his back in a mad coughing fit.

“You’re not a hero, Travis.” Lizzie said mockingly. “Don’t lay there and pretend to be one. I know exactly what you were planning on doing with Project Vela, and I can assure you that it won’t ever happen. You and Scott are so small and insignificant, you could have gone completely undetected here on Prox, but no… you have to go and fuck everything up. Well, let me tell you this. Once I finish off Rhiannon for killing my son, and then Benjamin for abducting him in the first place, I am going to make you both pay for your interference. You want a fucking war? Well you got one. We will bring the stars right crashing down to the ground. Congratulations.”

Travis lifted his head just as the color of the comm device on Lizzie’s wrist changed and it went into transport mode. “You don’t know what you are doing! You’re going to change the world!” He shouted, reaching out for her.

Pushing a series of buttons, on the communication device, Lizzie smiled one last time at Travis. “That’s exactly what I am hoping for.” She said quietly. Then suddenly a bright white light surrounded her, enveloping her completely and then she was gone.

Leaning his head down onto the concrete floor, Travis wiped away the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. The only sound in the room was that of an occasional pop or crack from the fire in the distance. He felt utterly defeated and ashamed. What started off as a simple mission had turned into something much bigger than he would have ever thought possible. To him, it was never about saving the world, or beating the bad guys, it was about saving one person. Sitting up, he reached over and took hold of his backpack, and started to rummage through it. Soon he found what he was looking for, a simple Project Vela music CD. This was the first copy that Scott had made for him, it was the culmination of their work together, still sealed and protected from the elements. Carefully, he ran his fingers over the plastic covering and thought about his friend, and how much he really missed him. Travis knew that he was nothing without Scott, and that he had feelings for him that he couldn’t quite fully understand. These unresolved feelings were part of the reason why he had come to Prox, but now he started to think that perhaps it was all one big mistake. Flipping the CD case over, Travis noticed that there was a slight tear in the plastic covering, a vertical slit that looked as though it had been carefully opened with a razor and then sealed back shut again. With trembling hands, he grabbed at the edges of the plastic, ripping it open as fast as he could. Slowly unfolding the cardboard cover, he looked inside, expecting to see the usual artwork and lyric sheet, along with the music CD that was included. What he found instead shocked him.

The loud sound of the heart monitor beeping loudly bothered him. He wanted to go back to sleep, but the rhythmic high pitched tone of it just went right through Scott’s head and severely irritated him. Trying to roll over and get more comfortable, he was immediately stopped by a mass of intravenous wires and tubes, all keeping him confined to the bed. Cursing and trying to get free of the tangled mass, he looked down and saw the bright red patch of gauze that had been taped down to his stomach. Gingerly, he reached out and touched the wound, wincing and letting out a string of profanities. Within moments, a nurse came over to him and greeted him with a warm smile. “Ah you’re awake finally! We were getting so worried.” She noticed him looking at the wound in his gut. “Oh about that, I am sorry… I am afraid that the doctor didn’t make it.. so I did the best that I could to try and close the wound for you. You might have a bad scar, but at least you’re out of the woods, which is a good thing, because we need you.”

Scott managed to pry his eyes open a little further and looked around. He was in the infirmary, home in the Shallow Bay, but it was unusually dark. All the lights were dimmed to a low power setting. Pushing himself up with his elbows, he looked around to see no one else around. “Where is everyone? What time is it anyway? Have I been out long, it feels like it’s morning but it’s so dark.” He asked curiously.

The nurse slightly adjusted his blankets. “You’ve been out for 12 hours… and it’s… 2 PM. The reason why it’s so dark is because the sun is gone. We’re running low on power and had to resort to using generators and batteries to run the base. As a precaution we’ve sent all non-essential personnel back to their homes, to be with their families where it’s safe until we know for certain what’s causing this.”

“What do you mean the sun’s gone?”

Feeling uncomfortable, the nurse got up to leave. “Maybe I can find someone else to explain it better to you, I don’t know much about this kind of stuff.”

Scott reached out and grabbed her arm, keeping her from walking away. “Just tell me.” She looked at him with wide eyes and then he let her go. “I am sorry. Please tell me what happened, as best as you can.”

“Well… that woman came in here and killed the doctor, and tried to kill you too. We still don’t know what exactly happened to her.. it looked like the birds ate her..” Frowning, the nurse turned a little pale and started to fold the edge of the bed sheet over and over as she continued. “Anyway, during the altercation, we lost Tristan… He was very ill when you brought him to us, and after everything happened, we were unable to bring him back. I am sorry.”

As sound of the nurse’s voice trailed off, Scott lowered his head. The thought of such a young life being cut short was completely devastating to him. He had made a promise to Lizzie that he’d watch over the boys, both of them and there would never be a reason for her to worry about anything. Scott felt like their family was an extension of his own back home, and he didn’t want to go through the pain of losing them all again. Prox was starting to crumble and fall apart, much like he was and he didn’t know how to stop it. All he wanted out of life was a few good friends, family and his music, but somehow things got messed up along the way and everything he wanted, he lost. He wished that things were different, that he could go back in time to that moment when the car on the bridge hit him and changed his life forever, but he knew that he couldn’t. He was a victim of fate much like everyone else in the world was, only for some foolish reason, he believed that he could change things, make everything better. Now here he was, on a distant planet he knew nothing about, trying his best to make the wrong things right and failing terribly at it. It disgusted and enraged him that Lizzie and Thomas’s family was slowly being torn apart. They were so young and full of joy, decent people who only wanted to live their lives in peace, free from oppression and slavery. Running his hands over his face, he sighed and looked back to the nurse who had stopped talking, seeing that he was obviously overcome with emotion and trying her best to comfort him. “What happened after that?” Scott asked, trying his best to keep a stable tone in his voice, even though his heart was breaking.

“Well, the medical team brought you in here, and we performed emergency surgery. Your wound is bad, but not fatal. We worked through the night to save your life and after it was all done, one of the other nurses happen to notice that the sun wasn’t coming up. That’s when one of the men came in and informed us that something odd had happened, and the sun was no longer there. Prox was plunged into a world of darkness practically overnight. The temperature started to drop and all our systems shut down, because they are mostly solar powered. The scientists think that we have enough energy stored for a few days, maybe a week at best before everything goes dark. They are looking for an alternative, but since the FEC has already depleted the planet of all it’s natural resources, there isn’t much hope. Everyone is scared, Scott. And with Benjamin, Thomas and Lizzie gone now……” The nurse let go of the blanket, realizing that she was turning it into knots. Embarrassed, she casually placed it back on the bed and hoped that he didn’t notice.

The door to the infirmary suddenly opened, and both the nurse and Scott jumped, the unexpected noise startling them both. A man entered that Scott knew was one of the heads of the security team, who had been working tirelessly with the refugees from Prox that had been driven inside by the storm. He approached the bed and looked toward the nurse. “Is he ready?”

Looking annoyed, she shook her head. “No, he just regained consciousness. I started to update him on what’s going on, but we haven’t gotten through it all yet, he still needs rest, we can’t rush him.”

He picked up the medical chart that was sitting next to the bed and quickly scrolled through the pages. “Good enough. We don’t have time to waste. I need him up. The people here at the Shallow Bay need a leader now more than ever or else things are going to fall apart.” He handed her the chart. “Find him a change of clothes now.”

Quickly, the nurse scurried off and disappeared down the hall in a hurry. Scott leaned back in the bed, resting his head against the pillow. “It’s bad, isn’t it?” he asked.

The security man pulled a chair up and sat next to the bed. “We thought that we were in trouble when Benjamin left, but we were so wrong. Things got worse, much worse. Those people out there are more than scared, they are terrified. They trusted and believed in Benjamin and he turned his back on them. Then Thomas left on some foolish mission right when Prox started falling apart, leaving Lizzie in charge. I don’t know what he was thinking, but clearly the people here weren’t his top priority.”

Scott closed his eyes for a moment. “Brock was the only one who stood by Thomas when he needed a friend. Everyone else turned their back on him after what happened at Eden. They went through so much together; they were more like brothers than simple friends. Thomas is a good man, who would do anything to help out someone in need, and that’s why he left. It wasn’t some spontaneous trip halfway around Prox on a social call, Brock needed him. Thomas would do the same thing for any of us, if we were in trouble.”

“If he’s so caring about people, then where is he now? Those storms outside, the changing weather conditions, it’s all ripping the planet apart, people are in a panic and they need a leader. Now is his chance to step up and take control of things before they get worse.”

Opening up his eyes, Scott stared at the ceiling. No one at the Shallow Bay except for himself and Lizzie knew that Thomas was dead. He ran his hands through his hair, pushing it back away from his eyes and rubbed his face. He wasn’t sure if now was the best time to drop the truth on the people, with the storm outside and the strange circumstances of both Benjamin and Lizzie leaving. “The last communication that we’ve had with him is that he went to Dawn with Dustin. They may have potentially found the source of the atmospheric disturbances there and are working to see to it that it is fixed.” The words felt forced and awkward to Scott, lying was not a strong point of his, he absolutely hated it, but since the situation called for it, there was nothing he could do. “There are electrical storms in the area where Dawn is located, so we can’t contact them at the moment, we are on our own for the time being.” He glanced over to the head of security, who seemed completely disenchanted with his answer.

“I feared as much. We’re losing communication with all the other Messenger bases because of this storm, and until it’s over, I guess we will have to make due. I will inform the men of the situation. I am sure that it will help calm them down, knowing that Thomas is at Dawn.” The door opened once again and the nurse reappeared with a set of clothing which she carefully laid on the bed at Scott’s feet. He looked from her to the security guard curiously. The man nodded to her and she left for a moment. “Get dressed Scott.” Reaching up, he grabbed hold of the curtain that hung around the bed and pulled it closed, stepping outside, but remaining near Scott’s bed. Underneath the hem of the cloth, he could see the man’s combat boots tapping on the floor anxiously. “Make it quick please.”

Shifting around so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed, Scott held a hand over his stomach and pulled the blankets down away from his body. There were still dull red stains of blood remaining on his skin from where he had been stabbed, a grim reminder of the vicious assault that ended up with a child losing his life. A sharp, sudden pain caught him off guard and he sat still for a moment, waiting for it to pass. “Are we going somewhere?” He asked. Underneath the curtain, he could see that the nurse had returned and she was also waiting patiently near the bed.

“Yes. There is a very pressing matter that you have to take care of.”

Scott picked up the clothing and slipped the shirt over his head, glad to have a bit of comfort back. He never wore the Shallow Bay uniforms that were provided to him; choosing instead to wear the clothes that he had brought with him from Earth instead. It was a constant reminder to him that home wasn’t so far away, and that one day he could return and resume his normal life. Slowly, he pulled on the pants and stepped into the boots. He grabbed a knit cap that had been left at his bedside, and held tightly in his hands for a moment, remembering when Travis had given it to him on a particularly snowy day in the dead of winter before he left to return home. Scott didn’t want him to leave, but he knew that there was no reason to keep him there any longer. He was almost fully recovered from the accident now, and he was running out of excuses, so he had to let him go. There was something inside of him that kept screaming, telling him that he had to be honest with Travis and make him understand what he was feeling, but he just couldn’t do it. There were too many ‘what if’s involved, the most dreadful one being, ‘what if he doesn’t feel the same way’. Scott sighed, and placed the hat on his head. “I was so wrong.” He whispered, and pulled the curtain open.

The moment the material parted, Scott’s eyes went immediately to the wheel chair that the nurse had brought over for him. He pointed at it with a furious look on his face. “What the hell is that for?”

Confused, the nurse tried her best to smile at him but felt a little uncomfortable by his reaction. “I thought it would be a little easier for you to get around in while you are healing, sir.”

“Get that thing away from me.” Scott replied, turning around and clutching the edge of the bed rail. In his head, he could hear the screeching sound of the tires on the wet pavement, and feel the impact of the car as it came to a sudden stop, pitching his body forward.

The security guard leaned over to him. “It’s best that you use it. Right now, you are the one in charge and I don’t want the men to see you staggering through the halls, possibly falling over. We are having a hard enough time keeping morale up, don’t make it any worse.”

Gritting his teeth, Scott fully stood up, straightening up his back and stepping away from both of them. “If you make me sit in that thing, then there will be a problem. I am fine. I can walk on my own.”

The nurse looked to the man and he nodded. Quietly, she took it away and disappeared from sight. The security man then gestured for Scott to follow him and together they walked out into the dim corridors of the Shallow Bay, speaking quietly. “Officially, the men just think that we were attacked by some lunatic driven mad by the storm. At least that’s what we are telling them. Only a few know the truth that the creature that came in through the window was Selene Bell. We decided to keep this under wraps, until Thomas returns, thinking that he would be the best one to explain it. I don’t like covering things up from our people, but at a time like this, I think it’s the best thing to do.” The man continued to walk, leading Scott down further into the Shallow Bay toward the wing of the facility where the holding cells were. Stopping at the sealed doors leading in, he scanned his card and the doors opened for him.

Scott leaned against the wall, hesitating. “Why are we down here? We have no prisoners. This part of the bay hasn’t been used for months, what is with all the extra security?”

“After the attack, and the sun disappeared, something strange happened. One of my men called me into the control room and said that he saw something suspicious on the security cameras. At first, I couldn’t quite make out what it was, it just looked like some odd figure just outside our perimeter. It moved slowly, didn’t seem to be threatening at all, but certainly it was something that sparked my interest. Since the attack, we were on high alert, and I decided that I would go out there and check it out. There was a break in the storm and I took a vehicle and went out there by myself to investigate. What I found out there was… well… it’s better if you see for yourself.” The man stopped for a moment and looked down the hall at the apparently empty cells. “This way.” He gestured for Scott to follow him.

Following a few steps behind, Scott’s eyes darted around, looking at each of the pristine white holding cells, enclosed with a thick glass barrier and secured with a laser defense system. He had never been down to this part of the base before, and was amazed by the high level of security that the prior commander had installed. It was top notch, and highly secured, but to the best of his knowledge, never had been used before, simply because the FEC would never allow any of their members to be taken prisoner, and the wing had been closed off and forgotten about. Reaching the last cell, the dim lights flashed on and the man pointed toward it. Cautiously, Scott approached it and looked in. Cowering in the corner was a completely naked young man; his body was contorted and tucked tightly into a ball, his arms up, resting on his knees and shielding his face from view. Scott could see that he had soft waves of dark hair that curled slightly around the tips of his ears, and his skin was incredibly pale and completely free of any types of birthmarks or scars. “What the hell?”

“When I got out to the area I found him. He was just as you see him now, naked, without a shred of clothing on him all confused and quiet. I thought for a moment that maybe he was one of the natives from Prox that got lost or something, but when I got a better look at him, I knew that wasn’t the case.”

Scott walked over and placed his hands on the glass, gazing at the shivering, frightened man beyond. “What do you mean?”

The security man knocked loudly on the glass. “Hey… hey you... wake up...” Slowly the man inside the cell raised his head, and the waves of hair fell away from his face.

“Holy shit!” Scott said, with wide eyes. “Thomas?” He leaned closer. “Thomas Bell?”

In the far corner, the man looked up, and his face was bathed in light. He had the same type of hair that Thomas had, with soft layers of loose curls, but they were much more relaxed and a lighter color. Beautiful, deep blue eyes peered back at him, which reminded him very much of Lizzie. There was a light layer of facial hair on his chin, accenting his high cheekbones. As their eyes met, a shiver went down Scott’s spine. “It can’t be.” He whispered.

Next to him, the security man reached into his pocket and withdrew a small object and offered it to Scott. “He was clutching this so tightly that I had to pry it out of his fingers.” Holding out his hand, the man dropped a silver crescent moon hairpin into Scott’s hand. “I don’t know where he got that from, or why he had it, but I do know that belonged it to Lizzie, she wore it on her wedding day.”

Scott couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “This… this isn’t possible.” He whispered. Glancing over to the man next to him, he slipped the hairpin into his pocket. “Who knows about this?”

“Only myself and the nurse that was with us earlier. After I found him out there, I put him in the vehicle and brought him inside. He never said a single word to me. I tried to get him into the medical wing for someone to take a look at him, but he refused to go. Got sort of violent too, wouldn’t let me put a hand on him, so I got the girl upstairs to sedate him and we brought him down here. That’s where he’s been ever since. I told her to keep quiet until we talked to you about this matter. There’s no need to get people riled up for no reason over a…. stranger, right?” The man paused and looked at Scott.

“Open the cell.” Scott said quietly. “I want to talk to him.”

“I am not sure that’s a good idea. He’s could be some random lunatic, sent here by spies for the FEC or….”

Reaching out, Scott grabbed the front of the man’s shirt and gave it a tug. “Look at him! We both know for damn sure that he’s NOT with the FEC. You brought me down here for a reason, you want me in charge and tell you what to do about this, well I am telling you right now OPEN THE GOD DAMN DOOR!”

As Scott let go of the man’s shirt, he immediately scurried over to the wall and punched in a code that lowered the barrier. “Ugh… should I stay here? Is this a private conversation or…”

Ignoring him, Scott walked forward and the young man remained motionless, his eyes set upon him, watching his every move. Nearing the corner of the cell, he slowly knelt down in front of him and couldn’t believe the sight before him. “You look so much like Thomas, its uncanny… you’ve got his hair, and his face, but when I look into your eyes, all I can see is Lizzie there. Who are you?”

The young man’s haunted expression softened “….Thomas…” he said, his voice only above a whisper. “….Thomas is my father…”

Scott felt like his heart was about to explode. A single tear ran down his cheek. “Tristan?” A faint smile came across the young man’s lips and he slowly nodded. Turning around, he shouted at the security man standing behind him, watching. “For fuck sake, get me a blanket.”

Hundreds of miles away from the Shallow Bay, in the empty halls of Dawn, the tall man slowly walked, wandering around from room to room, his trembling hand fumbling over every lock, trying desperately to get the doors open. His bones ached, his flesh felt like it was on fire, and there was a nagging pain in his chest that left him short of breath and gasping for air. Staggering along and almost to the point of exhaustion, he eventually found a room that had been left open and stumbled inside. The area inside the living quarters was dimly lit, and he ran into several articles of furniture on his way through. As his vision started to blur, he managed to find his way into the bedroom, and collapse down on to the bed. The sweat that was beading up on his forehead dripped down, soaking the pillow that he laid his head on. His lips were split and parched, and there was a dryness in his mouth that made him feel like there were ashes shoved inside of it. Lying on the pristine white sheets, his body started to convulse, as spasms of pain washed over him, causing him to bite down hard on his lower lip to keep from crying out. Never before had he felt such intense agony, it ripped through him without mercy, spilling tears out of his eyes and shaking him to the very core. Grabbing the sheet, he brought it up around his feverish, naked body, twisting it and clutching at the material, digging at it with his nails. All he could think about was the pain; all he could concentrate on was the pain. Once before, he loved and worshiped agony, it was the only thing that excited him, and gave him the much needed release that he so desired and longed for. Now, it was a cruel mistress, betraying and exposing him for the thing that he truly was, a simple human being.

Vulnerable and weak, he could do nothing but close his eyes and suffer silently. Trying to take his mind off of the suffering, he struggled to collect his thoughts, but they were scattered and distant, and always came back to the pain. He wanted death, he welcomed it. With each agonizing heartbeat, he thought that he would be closer, but instead of giving him the blissful release he wanted, they kept beating on, pulsing and flowing the blood through his veins. His insides felt like snakes, twisting and churning, pushing against his skin, trying to escape. Sitting up in the bed, he swung his long legs over the side and held his head down, watching the droplets of sweat slowly drip down off his nose onto the floor. There was absolutely no sound in the room. Then all at once, the bile that had been building up inside him exploded in a violent fit of vomiting that brought him right down to his knees and onto the floor. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he retched again and again, his thin body expelling everything that it could with fierce force. Eventually the moment passed, and he leaned back against the bed, covered in his own filth and sweat, disgusted. Gazing up at the ceiling, he waited patiently for the next wave of sickness to come, but it never did. After some time, his breathing eased up and he was able to pull himself up to his feet, and stumble into the bathroom. His shaking fingers fumbled with the faucet as he turned it on, and the first splashes of cold water hit his face, washing away hours of sweat and tears.

Satisfied that he felt better, he grabbed a cup from the sink and filled it to the rim, greedily drinking it down as fast as he could to quell the burning sensation in his throat. The cool liquid slid down, soothing and rejuvenating him within moments, and he started to feel somewhat normal again. Taking a deep breath, he leaned against the sink, resting his palms on the smooth marble surface and lifted his head to take a look in the mirror. The reflection gazing back at him was not the person he was expecting to see. His short cropped black hair had gained a little length, coming down to the front of his face and covering his eyes. Annoyed, he pushed it out of the way and was startled to find that his once intensely colored amber eyes had faded away to pale shades of gray and green. Reaching up, he brought his fingertips up to the side of his face, and slowly slid them down, mesmerized by how cool his flesh now was. Slowly, he turned around, and looked over his shoulder at his back reflected in the mirror. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just make out the thick, black lines of the skeletal crow tattoo that had been inked into his skin, but there was something missing, something not quite right. Stretching his arm over his shoulder, his fingers moved along his back and neck, searching for the slightly raised flesh of the scars that had been left behind so long ago by the vicious attack by the Carnivores. There was nothing there except for the tattoo.

Turning around, Burnley spun back around and gazed at his reflection once again. The expression on his face was cold and grim. His emerald gray eyes flashed with intensity and rage. Balling his hand up into a fist, sent it flying into the mirror, cracking it and splintering it into a thousand pieces. The skin on his hand instantly started to bleed, cut by the sharp edges, but he didn’t care. Leaning forward, he started to hit the mirror again and again, until every piece of the silver glass had fallen out and dropped down onto the sink in front of him. Blood dripping down from his knuckles, Burnley threw open the shower door with such force that it immediately shattered, and he stepped inside, turning the water to the hottest setting. As it cascaded over him and down onto his back, he put his hands on the wall and leaned forward, the rage inside of him building with every passing moment. He watched as the blood and water mix together at his feet and trickled down the drain. He moved his fingers across the tile in front of him, smearing the blood from his fingertips into each crack and crevice  
“I will destroy you for what you have taken from me.” He whispered, his face set in stone and seriousness, he looked up to the numbers he had written in blood in front of him. The gruesome message spelled out, ‘5502’.


End file.
